Buying power: Here come the holidays

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 06:48 PM.

You’re thinking costumes and candy today. Retailers have moved on to Christmas already, with visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads — and all over their advertising.

That despite — or maybe because of — predictions for reserved holiday spending this year.

Wells Fargo’s latest outlook report estimates a modest rise of 3.8 percent over last year, a smaller increase than the U.S. saw in 2011.

Lane Bryant’s new digs

Lane Bryant is hyping its new Gastonia location as “just in time for the holidays.”

It’s not as clever as calling their plus-size line “curvy apparel” but local shoppers will find the 3,700-square-foot space roomy enough.

Lane Bryant, along with its in-store Cacique lingerie boutique, moved from Franklin Square near Walmart to Franklin Square next to Books-A-Million. It means a departure from the plus-size niche that once existed in the shopping center corner with Cato Plus and also-relocated Manhattan Fashions Big & Tall.

You’re thinking costumes and candy today. Retailers have moved on to Christmas already, with visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads — and all over their advertising.

That despite — or maybe because of — predictions for reserved holiday spending this year.

Wells Fargo’s latest outlook report estimates a modest rise of 3.8 percent over last year, a smaller increase than the U.S. saw in 2011.

Lane Bryant’s new digs

Lane Bryant is hyping its new Gastonia location as “just in time for the holidays.”

It’s not as clever as calling their plus-size line “curvy apparel” but local shoppers will find the 3,700-square-foot space roomy enough.

Lane Bryant, along with its in-store Cacique lingerie boutique, moved from Franklin Square near Walmart to Franklin Square next to Books-A-Million. It means a departure from the plus-size niche that once existed in the shopping center corner with Cato Plus and also-relocated Manhattan Fashions Big & Tall.

The chain says it also means expanded fitting rooms and swankier décor.

How to name your own price, sort of

One theme you’ll see emerging this holiday: price matching.

Most of the biggest chains have it already and Target says for the first time it will match prices from online retailers.

Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us have similar online and in-store offers.

The trick is bringing in proof of a lower price somewhere else, making sure it’s current and keeping track of the pages and pages of specific price-matching rules for each store.

It also won’t hurt to ask your hometown, non-chain retailer — if you can find one — whether he or she will honor competitor coupons or prices.

Expect your local big boxes, mom and pop shops and other stores to use discounts for luring in appliance buyers.

Several area store employees — the ones on the floor, not those cleared by the corporate office to spew the company line — tell me the deals are better on this, the least popular of tax-free weekends. That’s probably because the limited number of eligible products means fewer people cramming the aisles than on the “everything’s tax free” holidays.

So stores will work a little harder to lure you there.

Look for the bright blue Energy Star sticker to tell if your purchase qualifies. There’s no minimum or maximum price to get the break on sales tax.

One caveat: Do the math.

If you were going to buy the $330 dishwasher anyway, it makes sense to do it now and save the $22.

But if you couldn’t afford the dishwasher beforehand, a 6.75-percent discount isn’t going to change that.